
Class 
Book. 






Copyright N° 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



DAINTY COOK BOOK 



BY 

MRS. NELSON OLIPHANT 



THE 

Hbbey press 

PUBLISHERS 

114 

FIFTH AVENUE 

XonDon NEW YORK Montreal 



THF I. IBSARV -^f 7 
CONGRESS, 

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by 

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"abbes ipress 



I regard the discovery of a new dish as a far more in- 
teresting matter than the discovery of a new star, for we 
always have stars enough, but we can never have too 
many dishes. 

Henrion de Pensey, 



CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

PART I. 

Ancient and Curious Recipes 7 

PART II. 

Local Recipes 25 

PART III. 

Calendar 51 

PART IV. 

Special Occasions 79 

Births 79 

Marriages 83 

Deaths 87 

■ PART V. 

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner 91 

Breakfast 91 

Lunch 1 04 

Dinner 117 

Soup 117 

5 



6 Contents. 

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, continued. 

PAGE 

Fish 121 

Meat 125 

Sauces 130 

Vegetables 134 

Game 138 

Salad 141 

Pies and Puddings 145 

Dessert 149 

PART VI. 

Miscellaneous 1 53 

Fruit 153 

Beverages 157 

Cake 161 

Pickles and Preserves 165 

For the Sick 169 

Odds and Ends 173 



PART I. 

ANCIENT AND CURIOUS RECIPES. 

But where is the man who can live without eating ? 

Owen Meredith. 

" I ONCE condescended to become for a time 
the tenant of the interior of a pie." 

Do you remember Sir Walter's description 
of the dwarf, Sir Geoffrey Hudson, who was 
presented in a pie to Henrietta Maria by the 
Duke of Buckingham ? Thus, as we dive into 
" much ancient and forgotten lore," we learn 
that the " four and twenty blackbirds " pie of 
our infancy was no fable. In the days when 
England was Merrie England still it was no 
uncommon thing for pies to be served out of 
which gaily-colored birds and butterflies flew. 
The pastry of those days was a triumph of 
architectural art. 

7 



8 A Dainty Cook Book. 

We stand aghast in some of the old manors 
and halls which yet remain to picture to us the 
days when men still thought it worth while to 
practise the good old virtue of hospitality, and 
were "not forgetful to entertain strangers." 
We see fireplaces which would roast an ox 
whole, tables of solid oak inches in 
thickness, spits and pot-hooks without 
number, enormous salting and chopping 
troughs hewn out of solid blocks of 
wood, salting houses, larders, pantries, 
which seem to us fit to serve an army. 
Our wonder is lessened as we remem- 
ber the household of King Richard 
the Second, who employed two thou- 
sand cooks, and daily fed at his board 
ten thousand persons. Nothing seems 
to connect the present with the past 
more than the show and state still 
maintained in the Guildhall, and halls of the 
various companies in London. 

Unpretentious-looking on the outside, even 
hard to find, and difficult of access, yet when 
the inside once is gained we find magnificence 




Ancient and Curious Recipes. 9 

which has been maintained undimmed for 
hundreds of years ; in the case of the Sadlers, 
since the days of Harold. 

Each Lord Mayor's Day the wooden giants, 
Gog and Magog, preside over the splendid 
banquet in the Guildhall, looking down on 
ambassadors, ministers of state, judges, officers, 
brilliant uniforms and blazing orders. 

It is pleasant to think that the poor are not 
forgotten, and the " fragments which remain " 
are, the next day, distributed to them. 

The noble Company of Salters, whose motto 
is " Sal sapit omnia," regale their friends with 
a most marvelous pie, the recipe for which is 
dated 1394. 

The Guild of Barbers have a Marrow or 
Mary pudding, the recipe for which they de- 
cline to reveal. 

Shall we examine some of the curious dishes 
served in those grand old banqueting halls 
where the lord and his guests sat on the dais 
and the retainers of the family " below the 
salt," while in' the gallery minstrels made 
sweet music with their harps ? 



io A Dainty Cook Book. 

Peacock, 

that royal bird, was served in a truly 
royal manner, sewed up in its feathers and 
carried to table to the sound of music 

The Crane 

was the favorite bird of William the Con- 
queror. Sir William Davenant speaks of 
" dull country madams that spend their 
time in studying receipts to make March- 
pane and preserve plums." 

Marchpane 

Wets a confection of pistachio nuts, almonds 
and sugar, this with Elecampane, another 
sweet is still made in some parts of England 
and Germany. 

Blanc-Mange or Manger 

instead of being merely a jelly, was, down 
to the sixteenth century, composed of the 
pounded flesh of poultry, boiled with rice 
and milk of almonds, and sweetened with 
sugar. A mixture of the same kind colored 
with blood or sandal wood was called a Rose. 



Ancient and Curious Recipes. n 

Bucknade 

was made of meat .iewn in gobbets, pounded 
almonds, raisins, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, 
cloves, onions, salt and fried herbs, thickened 
with rice flour and colored yellow with saf- 
fron. 

Mortrews 

mentioned in the " Canterbury Tales " de- 
rived its name from being pounded in a 
mortar. " Take hennes and pork and sethe 
horn togyder. Take the lyre (flesh) of the 
hennes and pork and hack it small and grind 
it to dust. Take bread gyrated and do (add) 
thereto and temper it with the self same 
broth — that is the broth in which it was 
boiled — and alye (mix) it well with yelkes 
of Ayern (yolks of eggs) and cast thereon 
powder fort (pepper) and boil it and do there- 
to powder of ginger, saffron and salt and look 
that it is standing (stiff) and flour it all with 
powder of ginger 

[ From the " Form of Cury."] 




12 A Dainty Cook Book. 

" Pleasant to see is this English Hall 
Of the olden time on a summer's day. 



Strange to think of times 

of old, 
And of those who lived 

there only a tale 
Doubtingly dimly guessed 

and told 
Of chateleines fair and of 

knights in mail. 

Though the place remains where they lived and 

died 
Seen as they saw it by you and by me. 

The light still shines through the latticed pane. 
As it shone to them, and the shadowed door 
Is the shadow they saw, and the stains remain 
Of the wine they spilled on the dais floor. 

The hand-lock at Haddon Hall. 

By the door of the banqueting Hall at Had- 
don in England is a little iron instrument at- 
tached to two staples. It is said if, " in the 
good old days," a man failed to drink up 
his quota of liquor he was fastened by the 
wrist to this iron, and the liquor poured up 
his sleeve. 



Ancient and Curious Recipes. 13 



14 A Dainty Cook Book. 



Ancient and Curious Recipes. 15 



16 A Dainty Cook Book. 



Ancient and Curious Recipes. 17 



1 8 A Dainty Cook Book. 



Ancient and Curious Recipes. 19 



20 A Dainty Cook Book. 



Ancient and Curious Recipes. 21 



22 A Dainty Cook Book. 



Ancient and Curious Recipes. 23 



24 A Dainty Cook Book. 



PART TWO. 

LOCAL RECIPES. 

FOR many years certain localities have been 
noted for certain products, and for certain 
curious customs pertaining thereto. 

The ancient town of Saffron Walden de- 
rives its prefix from the time of Edward 
Third, when saffron was extensively grown 
around it. 

It is mentioned by Fuller, and still retains 
the name, though the culture of saffron has 
long since disappeared. 

England. 

If an earthquake were to engulph England to-morrov.' 
the English would manage to meet and dine somewhere 
among the ruins just to celebrate the event. 

JERROLD. 

Yorkshire Tea-cake. 

" Aunt Betsey's." As much dough when 

25 




26 A Dainty Cook Book. 

ready for the working into loaves as will fill a 
small bowl. Work into 
this a piece of sweet lard 
the size of an egg. Roll 
out as thin as possible. 
Put in a shallow pan to 
rise for half an hour. 

Bake twenty minutes, split, toast and butter. 

Yorkshire Pudding. 

One pint of milk, one pint of flour, four 
eggs, a teaspoonful of salt. Raise a roast of 
beef on a spit, or on rods across the pan, half 
an hour before it is done. Pour the batter 
into the dripping-pan. Serve cut in squares. 

Doncaster. 

Celebrated for " its church, its races, its 
river and its butter-scotch." 

Butter-Scotch. 

Three pounds of coffee " A " sugar, one and 
a quarter pounds of butter, one-half tea- 
spoonful of cream of tartar, eight drops of 
extract of lemon. Dissolve the sugar in 
cold water, then boil all without stirring till 



Local Recipes. 27 

it breaks when dropped in cold water. Take 
from the fire. Do not add lemon until it is 




removed from the fire. When nearly cold 

cut in squares. 

" I chose my wife as she did her wedding-gown, for quali- 
ties that would wear 
well. She could read 
any English book with- 
out much spelling, but, 
for preserving, pickling 
and cooking, none 
could excel her. She 
prided herself on being 
an excellent contriver 
in housekeeping, though I could never find we grew richei 
with all her contrivances." 

— Goldsmith, " Vicar of Wakefield." 




28 A Dainty Cook Book. 

Wakefield. 

" West Riding bakers may well pride 
themselves on their bread. Many years ago 
Wakefield was celebrated for its muffins, of 
size and quality not to be surpassed. Don- 
caster breakfast-tables usually supply them 
equally good t6gether with pikelets, un- 
known to most south country folk." 

Pikelet-Pikelin. 

" A light cake or muffin, so called on ac- 
count of its thinness, for it is properly a thin, 
circular tea-cake." 

Muffins. 

Dissolve a yeast-cake in a pint and a half 
of warm milk, to which a scant teaspoonful of 
salt, two of sugar and one large one of but- 
ter have been added. Into this sift about 
three pints of flour — enough to make a stiff 
batter. Beat hard. When light cut into 
bits. Shape. Bake very slowly about twen- 
ty minutes on a hot griddle. Split and 
toast. 



Local Recipes. 



29 



Yarmouth. 

" As we drew a little nearer, and saw the whole adjacent 
prospect lying a straight low line under the sky, I hinted to 
Peggotty that a mound or so might have improved it, and also 
that if the land had been a little more separated from the 
sea and the town, and the tide had not been quite so much 
mixed up like toast and water, it would have been nicer. 
But Peggotty said, with greater emphasis than usual, that we 
must take things as we found them, and that, for her part, 
she was proud to call herself a ' Yarmouth Bloater.' " 

— Dickens, " David Copperfield." 




Joltu'sKottSl ov\ Ya.Ttwou.tK. Sixncts . 

Herring 

pies were deemed such a luxury that, by an 
ancient charter, the town of Yarmouth was 
bound to send annually to the king a hun- 
dred herring, baked in four and twenty pies. 
" Ride a trot horse to Banbury Cross." 

Banbury 

is noted for its " Cheese. Zeale and Cakes." 



30 



A Dainty Cook Book. 



Banbury zeal is described in the lines by 
Braithwaite : 

" To Banbury came I, O profane one ; 
There I met a puritane one, 
Hanging of his cat on Monday 
For killing of a mouse on Sunday." 

Shakespeare wrote of the cheese, and we find 
the cakes mentioned as early as 1686. 




Original. Ca.k.« Sht>j> 



Banbury Cakes. 

One pound of sugar, creamed with one-half 
pound of butter, three-quarters of a pound of 
flour, two pounds of currants, one-half ounce 
each of ground cinnamon and allspice, one- 
half pound of candied orange-peel. Roll 
puff paste into eight inch squares and fill 
with the mixture. Brine; the corners to- 



Local Recipes. 31 

gether, sift sugar over the top and bake in a 
hot oven. 

Chelsea 

for a century and a half was noted for 
Buns. These were mentioned by Swift, 
1712, "Rare Chelsea Bunns." These were 
made and sold at the " Old Chelsea Bunn 
House," which has long since disappeared. 

Bath 

was also celebrated for bunns. 

Hawkshead, 

in the land of Wordsworth, is a stopping- 
place for all breaks in the summer season in 
order that the " trippers " may invest in its 
rich and unwholesome " cakes." And at 
Richmond one must eat of Cheese-Cakes at 
the" Star and Garter." The following recipe 
is said to have been given by a maid of honor 
to Queen Elizabeth. 

Cheese-Cakes. 

One cup of sour milk and one cup of sweet 
milk boiled till they curd. Strain through a 



32 A Dainty Cook Book. 

sieve. Add yolks of three eggs, half-tea- 
spoonful of sugar and teaspoonful of vanilla. 
Beat until smooth. Bake in small pans lined 
with crust. Cover with meringue. 

Winchester. 

Henry de Blois founded the church of St. 
Cross in 1136. He endowed it with £2,000 
a year to give a piece of bread and a draught 
of beer to all who demand it. 

Shrewsbury. 

" And here each season do those cakes abide, 
Whose honored name the inventive city owns, 
Rendering thro' Britain's isle Salopias' praises known." 

Thus sang Shenstone of Shrewsbury cakes. 
The great Shropshire toast " To friends all 
round the Wrekin" was doubtless drunk in 
the Shrewsbury Michaelmas Ale. 

Durham, 

known for " mustard and old maids." 

One hundred and seventy years ago Mrs. 
Clements of Durham first manufactured 
mustard. George the First was one of her 
patrons. " Durham Mustard " is still in de- 



Local Recipes. 



33 




mand, although made in London, near the 
sound of the bells of the Royal Exchange 
playing " The Roast Beef of Old England." 

Eccles 

cakes resembled those of Banbury. 

Everton 

boasts of its toffy. 
Biddenden 

In the twelfth century 
twin sisters, according to 
some writers the precur- 
sors of the " Siamese 
Twins," bequeathed to the parish of 
Biddenden Kent some land, the income of 
which was to be devoted to supplying the 
poor with bread and cheese on Easter Sun- 
day. 

This is still carried out, hard cakes with a 
supposed facsimile of the sisters being dis- 
tributed to visitors. 

Cornish 

folk are famous for their pies ; indeed 
they make so many sorts, there is a saying 



34 A Dainty Cook Book. 

that the devil is afraid to go into Cornwall 
for fear of being baked in a pie. 

Mexico. 

The great dish of the people is the Tortilla, 
" a thin unleavened cake of maize flour 
baked on heated iron." 

[Velasquez.] 

Italy. 

•'In Italy we leave ourselves behind and travel through 
a dream-land." 

" O dolce Napoli 
O suol beati ! " 

Recipe 

"fit to set before a king" given by the 
minister of Foreign Affairs to Francesco 
de Bourbon, last king of Naples, with whom 
it was a favorite dish. 

Pour a cup of cream into a deep earthen 
dish. Put in several slices of egg-plant, thin 
as wafers, salt liberally. Slice and add two 
large tomatoes, and sprinkle this with a 
dozen lumps of cheese the size of a thimble. 
Pepper thickly. Add a layer of macaroni. 



Local Recipes. 35 

More tomato and egg-plant. Bake an hour 
and twenty minutes in a slow, sure oven. 

Russia 

" ' Twas Caviare to the general." 

[Hamlet.] 

Caviare 

is made of the roes of sturgeon, beaten with 
switches, passed through sieves and salted 
according to the season. 
India. 

" India is a country of ameliorations." 

Chupaties 

are made of flour mixed with milk or water, 
and a little salt, into a paste, kneading it 
well ; sometimes ghee (melted butter) is 
added. They are flattened into thin cakes 
with the hand, smeared with a small quantity 
of ghee, and baked on an iron pan over the 
fire. 

Germany. 

" The attempt of my domestic group to sustain the 
American style of cooking continued about six weeks, 
after which time we were ready to submit to all possible 
gravies ; in fact, to eat anything, and that five times a 



36 A Dainty Cook Book. 

day, that our Hamburg cook thought proper in civilized 
beings." 

— Life in the Fatherland. 

Zimmet-kuchen. 

Make an ordinary dough shortened with 
plenty of fresh, rich butter. Spread thinly 
and evenly in a long, shallow pan — thick 
kuchen is bourgeoise. Over this spread an 
egg, beaten till it froths. Over this drop a 
coating of granulated sugar, with lumps here 
and there. Sprinkle liberally with cinna- 
mon. Let it rise and bake until a golden 
brown. 

Scotland. 

" Bannocks are better nor nae kind 
o' bread." 

Bannock. 

" A cake made of oat, rye, pease or 
barley meal, baked on an iron plate over the fire." 

— Sir Walter Scott. 

Scone. 

Thoroughly mix a quart of flour and two 
teaspoonfuls of baking-powder. Work in 
well a quarter pound of butter. Add enough 
sweet milk to make a paste, about a quarter 




Local Recipes. 37 

pint. Roll out very thin and cut in trian- 
gles, each side about four inches. Bake an 
hour. 

Scotch Short-bread. 

Two pounds of flour, one of butter, scant 
half pound of sugar. Roll thin and cut out. 
Bake till crisp. 

Haggis. 

Let the stomach bag of a sheep lie in cold 
water all night. Grate the quarter of a liver. 
Chop the heart and a cupful of beef suet. 
Mix with two cupfuls of oatmeal dried be- 
fore the fire. Black and Jamaica pepper and 
salt. Half a pint of gravy. Stuff into the 
bag, which has been thoroughly cleansed ; 
sew up, leaving room to swell. Place on a 
plate in a pot. Boil three hours. Prick it 
occasionally. 



38 A Dainty Cook Book. 



Local Recipes. 39 



40 A Dainty Cook Book. 



Local Recipes. 41 



42 A Dainty Cook Book. 



Local Recipes. 43 



44 A Dainty Cook Book. 



Local Recipes. 45 



46 A Dainty Cook Book. 



Local Recipes. 47 



48 A Dainty Cook Book. 



Local Recipes. 49 



5o 



A Dainty Cook Book. 



PART III, 



CALENDAR. 




Christmas. 

" Now all our neighbors' chimneys smoke, 
And Christmas blocks are burning; 
Their ovens they with baked 
meats choke, 
And all their spits are 
turning. 
Without the door let 
sorrow lie, 
And if for cold it hap 
to die 

We'll bury it in a Christmas pie, 
And evermore be merry." 

— George Wither. 

On Christmas eve in the good old days the 
yule log was burnt, and Christmas candles 
were lighted. A toast was thrown from the 
wassail bowl to the fruit trees, in hope of 
securing a good crop next season. 

5i 



52 A Dainty Cook Book. 

It was thought that water turned to wine 
for a short time during the night, and that 
bread baked then never grew moldy. 

" Come, bring with a noise, 
My merry, merry boys, 
The Christmas log to the firing." 

— Herrick. 

A brand from the yule log was put away 
to light next year's fire. A standing dish on 
Christmas eve was 

Frumenty, 

a dish made of wheat cakes boiled in milk, 
with rich spices. 

On Christmas morning carols were sung by 



the waits. 



Nowell, nowell, 
God rest you, merry gentlemen ; 

Let nothing you dismay, 
For Jesus Christ our Saviour 

Was born upon Christmas day." 

Christmas Dinner. 

" Ule, Ule, 
Three puddings in a pule, 
Crack nuts and cry Ule." 

Was ever anything in the English language 
more delicious than Irving's description of 



Calendar. 53 

the kind old 'squire and his Christmas hospi- 
tality? How the old customs were kept up 
in kitchen as well as hall — 

" Just in this nick the cook knocked thrice 
And all the waiters in a trice 

His summons did obey ; 
Each serving-man, with dish in hand, 
Marched boldly up like one train-band, 

Presented, and away." 

how the guests were ushered into the ban- 
queting-hall to the sound of the old harper's 
music ; how the parson said grace, " not a 
short, familiar one, but a long, courtly, well- 
worded one of the ancient school , " lastly, 
how there was a pause, and then the en- 
trance of the butler, bearing the boar's head, 
trimmed with rosemary ! He was attended 
by a serving-man on each side, bearing a 
large wax light, and the ancient carol was 
sung : 

" Caput apri defero 
Reddeus laudes Domino. 
The boar's head in hand bring I, 
With garlands gay and rosemary, 
I pray you all sing merrily, 
Qui estis in convivio." 



54 A Dainty Cook Book. 

After the cloth was removed came the 
Wassail Bowl, composed of wines, spices 
and roasted apples. 

" The browne bowle, 
The merry browne bowle, 
As it goes round about-a, 

Fill, 

Still, 
Let the world say what it will, 
And drink your fill all out-a." 

Frumenty, 

a recipe three hundred years old. " Take 
clean wheat and bray it in a mortar till the 
hulls be all gone off, and seethe it till it burst, 
and take it up and let it cool ; and take clean 
fresh broth and sweet milk of almonds, or 
sweet milk of kine, and temper it all and wet 
it down with the yolks of eggs, and boil it a 
little and serve it forth with fat venison or 
fresh mutton." 

What the Christmas Pie was may be un- 
derstood from the description of one pub- 
lished in 1770. This contained two bushels 
of flour, twenty pounds of butter, four geese, 
two turkeys, two rabbits, four wild duck, 



Calendar 



55 



two woodcock, six snipe, four partridges, 
two neat tongues, two curlews, seven black- 
birds and two pigeons, being made by Mis- 
tress Dorothy Patterson, housekeeper at 
Howick. It weighed one hundred and sixty- 
eight pounds and required two men to carry 
it to table. This Christmas pie has devel- 
oped into the mince pie. According to an 
old superstition it was symbolical of the 
offerings of the wise men, and the long, nar- 
row shape in which they were originally 
made represented the manger. 

During the Commonwealth many people, 
among whom was Bunyan, scrupled to par 
take of them. 

" The pudding, which is the priceless 
possession of the English-speaking world." 
— From English illustrated magazine. 

" Oh, plum-pudding of the Anglo- 
Saxon, the delight of youth, the dread of 
manhood and the poison of age." 

The original Plum-pudding 
was known as Plum-porridge, 
and was the first course of the Christmas 




56 A Dainty Cook Book. 

dinner. It was made by boiling beef or 
mutton with broth, thickened with brown 
bread. When half boiled, raisins, currants, 
prunes, cloves, mace and ginger were added. 

" Heap on more wood — the wind is chill 
But let it whistle as it will, 
We'll keep our Christmas merry still 



And well our Christian sires of old 

Loved when the year its course had 

And brought blythe Christmas back again 

With all his hospitable train. 

Domestic and religious rite 

Gave honor to the holy night. 

On Christmas eve the bells were rung, 

On Christmas eve the mass was sung ; 

That only night in all the year 

Saw the stoled priest the chalice rear. 

The damsel donned her kyrtle sheen ; 

The hall was dressed with holly green ; 

Forth to the wood did merry-men go 

To gather in the mistletoe. 

Then opened wide the baron's hall 

To vassal, tenant, serf and all ; 

Power laid his rod of rule aside, 

And Ceremony doffed his pride. 

The heir, with roses in his shoes, 

That night might village partner choose ; 

The lord, underogating, share 

The vulgar game of ' post and pair.' 

All hailed with uncontrolled delight, 



Calendar. 57 

And general voice, the happy night, 
That to the cottage, as the crown, 
Brought tidings of salvation down. 
The fire, with well-dried logs supplied, 
Went roaring up the chimney wide ; 
The huge hall table's oaken face, 
Scrubbed till it shone the day to grace, 
Bore then upon its massive board 
No mark to part the squire and lord. 
Then was brought in the lusty brawn, 
By old, blue-coated serving-man ; 
Then the grim boar's head frowned on high, 
Crested with bays and rosemary. 
Well can the green-garbed ranger tell 
How, when and where the monster fell ; 
What dogs before his death he tore, 
And all the baiting of the boar. 
The wassal round in good brown bowls, 
Garnished with ribbons, blythely trowls. 
There the huge sirloin reeked ; hard by 
Plum-porridge stood, and Christmas pie ; 
Nor failed old Scotland to produce, 
At such high-tide, her savory goose. 



England was merry England, when 
Old Christmas brought his sports again. 
'Twas Christmas broached the mightiest ale, 
'Twas Christmas told the merriest tale ; 
A Christmas gambol oft would cheer 
The poor man's heart thro' half the year." 

—Sir Walter Scott. 
Hogmanay. 

The last day of the year is so called in 



58 A Dainty Cook Book. 

Scotland. On this day the small children 
cry at their neighbors' doors : 

" Hogmanay, trollalay, 

Gie's of your white bread 
And none of your gray," 

in obedience to which cry they are given an 
oaten cake. 

In the evening there are merry-makings, 
and small parties take a kettle with hot 
ale posset and go to wish their friends a 
" happy New Year." 

Whoever comes first is called" First-foot " 
in that house, and offers the inhabitants a 
sip of the posset for luck. 

Formerly the first Monday of the new 
year was much observed as a time of feast- 
ing and exchange of gifts, and hence called 
Handsel Monday 

New Year's Day, 

till a period not very remote, was ushered in 

by drinking spiced liquor from the wassail 

bowl, so called from the Anglo-Saxon waes- 

vel (be healthy). 

The first of January is called in Paris the 



Calendar. 59 

"Jour del'an." It has been calculated that 
on that day sweetmeats are sold in Paris to 
the value of twenty thousand pounds ! 

Twelfth Day. 

Now the mirth comes, 

ith the cake full of plums, 
here bean's the king of the sport here ; 
Beside we must know the pea also 
Must revel as queen of the court here. ' ' 

— HERRICK. 

One of the most famous of cakes was the 
Twelfth Night cake. It contained, beside 
plums, a bean and a pea, and the lucky find- 
ers of these were king and queen for the 
evening. 

Mary, Queen of Scots, once celebrated 
Twelfth Day at Holyrood. 

It was first kept in 813. 

Robert Baddeley, an actor of the last cen- 
tury, the original Moses in the " School for 
Scandal," who died in 1794, bequeathed in 
his will the sum of three hundred pounds in 
three per cent, consols, the interest of which 
was to be laid out annually on Twelfth 
Night for cake, with wine and punch, to 



6o A Dainty Cook Book. 

be presented in the green-room of Drury 
Lane Theater, to the ladies and gentlemen 
engaged there. As the large company now 
employed would need a feast far beyond the 
resource of this sum, it has become custom- 
ary for the manager to supplement the be- 
quest, still observing the prescribed form of 
cutting the cake with the formal toast, " The 
memory of Robert Baddeley." 
Shrove Tuesday. 

"Some folks think it will never be good times till 
houses are tiled with pancakes." 

— Franklin. 

Shrove Tuesday is sometimes called " Pan- 
cake Day," and in some places a " Pancake 
Bell " is still rung. 

" When Lent was kept by a strict absti- 
nence from meat all through the forty 
days, it was customary to use up all the 
dripping and lard in the making of pan- 
cakes. To consume all, it was usual to call 
in the apprentice boys and others about the 
house, and they were summoned by a bell, 
which was naturally called 'Pancake Bell.'" 
— Notes and Queries, i8g2. 



Calendar. 61 

Before Queen Elizabeth came to the throne 
her guardian, Sir Thomas Pope, made at 
Hatfield a " greate and riche maskinge" on 
Twelfth Day, but she snubbed him for these 
" folliries " and ordered them to cease. 

Mid-Lent. 

" I'll to thee a simnel bring, 
'Gainst thou go a-mothering ; 
So that when she blesses thee 
Half that blessing thou'll give me." 

— Herrick, " To Dianeme." 

It was, and in- some places still is, the 
custom for maidens at service to have holi- 
day on mid-lent Sunday, when they went 
"a-mothering," taking a simnel or mid-lent 
cake. 

The Simnel 

is especially celebrated in Hereford and 
Salop. The Shropshire legend records that 
an old couple, Simon and Nelly, wishing to 
make a cake of the remains of their Christ- 
mas pudding and Lenten bread, disputed as 
to the baking or boiling. Finally becoming 
hungry, both processes were resorted to, and 



62 A Dainty Cook Book. 

the combined name of " simnel " was given 
to the happy result. 

Some people allow Lambert Simnel, a 
baker of Henry VII. 's time, the honor of 
naming this cake, of which an old gentleman 
writes in 1695 : " That sodden bread which 
bee called simnels bee verie unwholesome." 
This cake is of flour, filled with plums and 
candied peel and colored with saffron. It 
is boiled for hours and then baked hard. 

Palm-Sunday. 

The custom of eating figs on Palm-Sunday 
or " Fig-Sunday " prevails in many counties 
in England, probably from the account of the 
barren fig-tree immediately following that of 
the entry into Jerusalem. 

Good Friday. 

" One a penny, 
Two a penny, 
Hot Cross Buns." 

This cry resounds through London on 
Good-Friday morning. As many as fifty 
thousand persons congregated at the " Old 
Chelsea Bunn House " on that day. Bread 



Calendar. 63 

baked on Good-Friday is popularly supposed 
never to get stale, and in many houses a 
bun is kept throughout the year for " luck." 
Through an old benefactor in the parish of 
St. Bartholomew the Great, twenty-one aged 
women receive on Good-Friday a sixpence 
and a hot cross bun ; and through another 
bequest of Peter Symonds in Queen Eliza- 
beth's time sixty boys of the Blue Coat 
School receive each a new penny and a 
packet of raisins. 

The origin of the cross buns is very 
ancient. The word " boun " is derived from 
the time of Cecrops. Some with the cross 
were discovered at Herculaneum. Loaves 
marked with a cross are to be seen on some 
sculpture, representing the miracle of the 
five barley loaves at the Museo Borbonica 
at Rome. 



Easter. 



This is the day when from the dead 

Our Lord arose. 
And, mindful that the day is come, 
On all the hearths in Christendom, 



64 A Dainty Cook Book. 

The fires are quenched to be again 
Rekindled from the sun." 

— The Golden Legend. 

The custom of giving "Pace " or Paschal 
eggs on Easter is very generally observed. 
They are frequently colored. Pope Paul V. 
authorized a form of benediction for Easter 
e gg s - Hare-pies are eaten on Easter Mon- 
day. 

St. Michael and All Angels'. 

" It is an ancient and extensively prevalent 
custom to have goose for dinner on Michael- 
mas. Queen Elizabeth is said to have been 
eating her Michaelmas goose when she re- 
ceived the intelligence of the defeat of the 
Spanish Armada." 

All Saints' Day. 

" Some merry, friendly countra folks 
Together did convene 
To burn their nits, an' pou their stocks, 
An' haud their Hallowe'en 

Fu' blythe that night." 

— Burns. 

" It was a custom of our forefathers to have 



Calendar. 65 

a cake broken on this eve (evening?), called 
a * soul-cake.' It was composed of oatmeal 
and seeded. Pasties and frumenty were 
incidental to the same evening. People went 
from parish to parish ' a-souling '; that is, 
begging for a cake." This originated in the 
monastery of Clugny when All Souls' Day 
was instituted, in 993. 

Guy Fawkes' Day. 

" There was an old man, and his name was Guy Fawkes, 
So weary of parliamentary talks, 
He invited them down in the cellar, 
Intending to hoist them like an umbrella. 
But the plot did not work the desirable slaughters, 
He was caught in the act and divided in quarters, 
And, instead of a dynastic change on the throne, 
He had a small ' die nasty ' all of his own. ' ' 

A sort of gingerbread, called in London 
" Tharf-cake," is eaten on Guy Fawkes' Day. 
Ditchfield, in " Old English Customs," says 
that in Lancashire the word is " Harcake," 
and is derived from " Har," one of the names 
of Odin, the custom probably being a relic of 
an ancient pagan festival. 



66 A Dainty Cook Book. 

Martinmas. 

" And Martinmas beef doth bear good tack 
When county folk do dainties lack." 

— TUSSER. 
On the continent the wines of the country- 
were first tasted on Martinmas, and animals 
killed for the winter's salting. So custom- 
ary was the killing of beeves at this time 
that in Scotland and Northumberland a beef 
was called a " mart " or " mairt." 



Calendar. 67 



68 A Dainty Cook Book. 



Calendar. 



69 



70 A Dainty Cook Book. 



Calendar. 7 1 



72 A Dainty Cook Book. 



Calendar. 73 



74 A Dainty Cook Book. 



Calendar. 75 



76 A Dainty Cook Book. 



Calendar. 77 



78 A Dainty Cook Book. 



PART IV. 
SPECIAL OCCASIONS. 
Births. 




Caudle. 

A kind of warm drink, a mixture of wine 
with eggs, bread, sugar and spices, used at 
christenings. 



79 



8o A Dainty Cook Book. 



Special Occasions. 



82 A Dainty Cook Book. 



Special Occasions. 83 

Marriages. 

" This day, my Julia, thou must make 
For mistress bride the wedding cake : 
Knead but the dough and it will be 
To paste of almonds turned by thee ; 
Or kiss it once or twice, 
And for the bride-cake there'll be spice." 

— Herrick. 



84 A Dainty Cook Book. 



Special Occasions. 85 



86 A Dainty Cook Book. 



Special Occasions, 87 

Deaths. 

A funeral is still regarded in rural York- 
shire as a very high festival. A woman was 
lately heard complaining of one she had 
attended. " A paltry concern," she said with 
scorn ; " nobbut cakes and such like. Now, 
I've buried five, but I sided 'em all off with 
am ! 



88 A Dainty Cook Book. 



Special Occasions. 89 



90 A Dainty Cook Book. 



PART V. 

BREAKFAST, LUNCH, DINNER. 
Breakfast. 

«' Balzac could describe the breakfasts of a cheap board- 
ing-house so that you smelled them, tasted them, and had 
dyspepsia after." 

Moravian Bread. 

Scald a pint of milk with four tablespoon- 
fuls of butter ; when lukewarm add a tea- 
spoonful of salt and a yeast-cake and three 
pints of flour. Raise two and a half hours in 
a very warm place. Beat in two eggs and a 
quarter pound of brown sugar. Raise for 
another hour, beat down, pour into pans 
and raise a half hour. Mix two tablespoon- 
fuls of butter, an ounce of cinnamon and a 
quarter pound of brown sugar. Make holes 
in the dough and fill with lumps of this mix- 
ture. Bake twenty minutes in a very hot 

oven. — Recipe from a Moravian tozvn. 

9i 



92 A Dainty Cook Book. 



Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. 93 



94 A Dainty Cook Book, 



Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. 95 



96 A Dainty Cook Book. 



Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. 97 



98 A Dainty Cook Book, 



Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. 99 



L.ofC. 



ioo A Dainty Cook Book. 



Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. 101 



io2 A Dainty Cook Book. 



Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. 103 



104 A Dainty Cook Book. 

Lunch. 

" Luncheon is base ingratitude to breakfast, and pre- 
meditated insult to dinner." 

Nut Sandwiches. 

Chop English walnuts, almonds, butter- 
nuts, hickory, or any others, very fine, 
moistened with sweet cream, and spread be- 
tween very thin slices of bread. 



Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. 105 



io6 A Dainty Cook Book. 



Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. 107 



io8 A Dainty Cook Book. 



Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. 109 



no A Dainty Cook Book. 



Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. in 



J 12 A Dainty Cook Book. 



Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. 113 



ii4 A Dainty Cook Book. 



Breakfast. Lunch, Dinner. 115 



n6 A Dainty Cook Book. 



Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. 117 
Dinner. 

1 ' The dinner is for eating, and my wish is that guests, 
not the cooks, should like the dinner." 

— Bacon. 

Soup. 

" Beautiful soup, so rich, so green, 
Waiting in a hot tureen, 
Who to such dainties would not stoop ? 
Soup of the evening, beautiful soup." 

— Alice in Wonderland. 




"Liny's" Tomato Soup. 

One can of tomatoes or quart of fresh 
ones. Cook up with a suspicion of onion, 
strain and add a teaspoonful of soda. Then 
add a quart of milk, seasoning to taste, and 
a handful of cracker dust. Boil up and serve. 



n8 A Dainty Cook Book. 



Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. 119 



120 A Dainty Cook Book. 



Breakfast. Lunch, Dinner. 121 
Fish. 

Third Fish : " Master, I marvel how the fishes live 
in the sea ? ' ' 

First Fish : " Why, as men do a-land — the great ones 
eat up the little ones." 

— Pericles. 



Sardines. 

Broil the fish on an oyster broiler, well 
greased. Serve on buttered toast, with lemon 
sliced very thin. 



122 A Dainty Cook Book. 



Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner 123 



124 A Dainty Cook Book. 



Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. 125 
Meats. 

"Oh, father, the pig ! the pig ! Do come and taste how 
good the burnt pig eats." 

—Charles Lamb. 

Three Dinners from a Leg of Mutton. 

Cut a large leg into three equal parts. 
Take the knuckle end and boil rather under- 
done. Make a sauce with stock thickened 
and seasoned. Add a little Parmesan cheese, 
and pour around the meat. Lay bunches of 
cauliflower, which have been boiled with the 
meat and browned in the oven, in the sauce. 
Add more cheese and sauce, and put in the 
oven until browned and thickened. The 
next day cut the large piece in slices and 
broil. Serve with horseradish, or a lump 
of green butter and watercress tossed in oil 
and vinegar. Bone the third piece and lard 
it with lardoons rolled in salt and vinegar and 
spice. Tie in shape. Simmer gently with 
sliced carrots, onions and potatoes, cloves, 
parsley and herbs, a ladle of stock and half 
pound of bacon. Or stuff with oysters, roast 
and serve with gravy and oyster liquor. 



126 A Dainty Cook Book. 

Dean Swift's Recipe for Roast Mutton. 

" Gently stir and blow the fire, 

Lay the mutton down to roast ; 

Dress it quickly, I desire, 
In the dripping put a toast, 

That I hunger may remove ; 
Glutton is the meat I love. 

" In the dresser see it lie, 

Oh ! the charming white and red ; 
Finer meat ne'er met the eye, 

On the sweetest grass it fed ; 
Let the jack go swiftly round, 
Let me have it nicely browned. 

" On the table spread the cloth, 

Let the knives be sharp and clean ; 

Pickles get and salad both, 

Let them each be fresh and green ; 

With small beer, good ale and wine, 
Oh, ye gods, how I shall dine ! " 



Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. 127 



128 A Dainty Cook Book. 



Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. 129 



130 A Dainty Cook Book. 

Sauces. 

" Fames optimum condimentum est, 

' Of all known sauces hunger's the best ' ; 
Doubtless this ancient saw is true, 
But give us hunger and sauces too." 

Bread Sauce. 

A handful of bread crumbs boiled to the 
consistency of bouilli. Salt and 
^\ pepper. Butter the size of an egg. 

til) 

Served in England with game ; in 
Belgium with artichokes. — From the French. 




Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. 131 



132 A Dainty Cook Book. 



Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. 133 



j^A. 



« 



134 A Dainty Cook Book. 

Vegetables. " Pour accomoder les choux 
rouges," 

Du bouillon, deux quartiers de pommes 
de reinettes, un oignon pique, 
de clous, de girofles, et deux 
verres de vin rouge pour un 
chou. Faites echauder les 
choux a l'eau bouillante avant 
que de les hacher pour cuire 
au bouillon. Envoye par Mme. la Duchesse 
d'Orleans en marque de pleine et sincere 
reconciliation Chr6tienne a la Marquise de 
Crequy, 1760. 




Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. 135 



136 A Dainty Cook Book. 



Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. 137 



138 A Dainty Cook Book. 

Game. — Salmi a la bourgeoise gentilhomme. 

Four larded quails freshly roasted, a piece 
of unsalted butter the size of an egg placed 
in a saucepan and allowed to liquefy. When 
it begins to bubble put in two shallots and 
two sprigs of parsley, finely minced, stir- 
ring until browned, adding a teaspoonful of 
flour. When well in- 
corporated add two cups 
of bouillon, a pinch of salt, and for the 
" bouquet garni " a third of a bay-leaf, two 
cloves, a small piece of cinnamon, a dash of 
allspice and the merest trifle of nutmeg. 
Next, two sliced truffles of Perigord, the juice 
of a can of button mushrooms, a tablespoon- 
ful of water, and a wineglass each of Chablis 
and St. Julien. Allow this to boil to the 
desired consistency. Then add the can of 
mushrooms, and about ten minutes before 
serving permit one of the quails to simmer in 
the perfumed sauce. Immediately before 
placing the s«lmi in the chafing dish and dec- 
orating with croutons, drop in a peppercorn 
and stir briskly. 



Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. 139 



140 A Dainty Cook Book. 



Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. 141 



142 A Dainty Cook Book. 

Salad. 

" To make a salad perfect, there should be a spendthrift 
for oil, a miser for vinegar, a wise man for salt, and a mad- 
cap to stir the ingredients up and mix them well to- 
gether." Spanish Proverb. 

A Dainty Salad. 

Roll balls of cottage cheese with butter- 
paddles, lay on leaves of lettuce and cover 
with French dressing. Serve with thin sand- 
wiches of Boston brown bread. 



Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. 143 



144 A Dainty Cook Book. 



Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. 145 



146 A Dainty Cook Book. 

Pies and Puddings. 

" The proof of the pudding is in the eating." 

Fig Pudding. 

One cupful of molasses, one of chopped 
suet, one of milk, three and a quarter of 
flour, two eggs, a teaspoonful of soda, one of 
cinnamon, half a teaspoonful of nutmeg, a 
pint of figs. Mix the molasses, suet and 
chopped figs. Add to the other ingredients, 
with the eggs beaten light. Steam five 
hours. — Recipe from Montreal, 



Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. 147 






148 A Dainty Cook Book. 






Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. 149 






1^0 



A Dainty Cook Book. 



Dessert. 

" ' An't please your honor,' quoth the peasant, 
' This same dessert is very pleasant. ' ' ' 

Pope. 

Cafe Mousse. 

Beat together the yolks of two eggs and 
half a cup of sugar. Add a 
cup of very strong coffee. 
Cook in a double boiler 
four minutes, stirring it. 
Cool and add two quarts of 
whipped cream. Put it in a freezer, without 
beater, cover and pack. Stand from four to 
six hours. 

" If you have dined with contentment, you have dined 
better than the L,ord Mayor of London." 





Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. 151 



152 Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. 



Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. 153 



PART VI. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 

Fruit— Bananas. 

Cut them in slices, pour over them whipped 
cream, unsweetened. Hand with them a 
small decanter of Maraschino. 



iS5 



156 A Dainty Cook Book. 



Miscellaneous. 157 






158 A Dainty Cook Book. 




Miscellaneous. 159 

Beverages. 

" At Bacharach on the Rhine, 
At Hochheim on the Main, 
And at Wiirtzburg on the Stein, 
Grow the three best kinds of wine." 

—Golden Legend. 

Mulled Wine. 

Put cinnamon and allspice to taste to steep 
in a cup of hot water. Add three eggs well 
beaten with sugar. Heat to a boil a pint of 
wine. Add eggs and spice. Stir three min- 
utes and serve. 



i6o A Dainty Cook Book. 



Miscellaneous. 161 






162 A Dainty Cook Book. 



Miscellaneous. 163 

Cake. 

" Aye to the leavening, but there's yet in the work here- 
after the kneading, the making of the cake, the heating 
of the oven, and the baking. Nay, you must stay the 
cooling, too, as you may chance to burn your mouth." 

— Shakespeare. 

Plum Cake — Choice. 

" 3 flower, 2\ butter well worked to cream, 
" with 2\ sugar, sifted and dried, 1 oz. mace, 
" \ cloves, 1 cinnamon, 4 lbs. cleaned cur- 
" rants, I raisons, 1 citron, 1 pt. brandy, 4 
" spoons fine ginger. To ice it, tak 5 whites 
" °f e gg s > l lb- double refined sugar, pounded 
" and sifted, 3 spoons roas water, beat up to 
" a froath. A littel starch to bind it to your 
" cake. It must be laid on thin and set in 
" the wind to harden." — MARGARET BuN- 
YAN, 1744: Kingston, Jamaica. 

[From a manuscript written on parchment. 
Margaret Grant was the wife of James 
Bunyan, grandson of John Bunyan, of " Pil- 
grim's Progress " fame. The recipe is given 
by her third great-granddaughter.] 



164 A Dainty Cook Book. 



Miscellaneous. 165 



166 A Dainty Cook Book. 



Miscellaneous. 167 

Pickles and Preserves. 

" Open your cupboard door a trifle wider, 
Methinks their closet-skeleton I spied her ; 
And yes ! I've heard they had 'em. O ! my stars ! 
The best of households have their family jars." 

Rowan Jelly. (A Scotch recipe.) 

Take rowans or rose-hips and apples in 
equal weight. Slice apples and 
boil (with cores and skins) with 
berries. Pass through a sieve. — 
Add after straining a pound of sugar to a 
pound of juice. Boil to desired thickness. 




1 68 A Dainty Cook Book. 



Miscellaneous. 169 



170 A Dainty Cook Book. 



Miscellaneous. 171 

For the Sick.— Drink. 

A large lump of ice in a glass, with one or 
two teaspoonfuls of sugar. White of one 
egg and a teaspoonful of sherry or lemon 
juice. Stir slowly till ice is all melted. 



172 A Dainty Cook Book. 



Miscellaneous. 173 



i74 A Dainty Cook Book. 



Miscellaneous. 175 

Odds and Ends. 

A bunch of red clover in a room will drive 
out flies. 



176 A Dainty Cook Book. 



Miscellaneous. 177 



178 A Dainty Cook Book. 



APR 2 ' 1902 



APR 2 "1902 



